✅ Need is best when you want to stress the necessity of what is lacking (She needed an operation; He needed help). It’s also often used as an exaggerated version of want (I really need a fourth pair of sunglasses).
✅ Use require in more formal or serious contexts, especially when something is absolutely necessary, as in He may require medical care.
✅ When you simply need or want something, it sounds overly formal or even rude to use require, as in I require ketchup. Still, it might be intentionally used in this way to be funny.
If you need more synonyms for require, here they are!
✅ Less is typically used in comparisons of amounts that are not countable (Walking requires less energy than running).
✅ Smaller is the perfect comparative adjective when referring to something limited in size that is also concrete (They moved to a smaller house; In Europe, they drive smaller cars).
➕ To really emphasize how much something continues to be smaller than it previously was, you may say it keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller.
✅ Condition and state are terms for existing situations or surroundings.
✅ State is the more general and neutral word (state of affairs; current state) and is often modified by more exciting adjectives like blissful or parlous.
✅ Condition implies a relationship to causes and circumstances (Due to deteriorating weather conditions, they chose to stay another night at the hotel).
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